Wasting Away Without You
by AngelOfPride
Summary: 'What will be, will be'. Following Shere Khan's defeat, it is a time of peace and healing throughout the jungle. Only, not everybody is healing. In fact, some may be getting worse. Bagheera's wounds begin to take their toll.
1. Chapter 1

His senses overflowing under this sudden chaos, Bagheera bounded a few feet from the other animals down the hill and scanned the blazing jungle with a heavy yet pounding heart.

And then he froze. Eyes narrowing as he pin-pointed the orange and black pelt of Shere Khan streaking towards the trees, the panther broke into a sprint and raced after the tiger.

 _'You'll not have him. You'll not have my cub.'_

Adrenaline coursing through him, Bagheera waited as he would with any prey; once close enough, he lunged at the tiger, sinking his claws into his back and throwing all his weight into bringing the larger cat to the ground.

Khan bellowed in rage, almost immediately turning on the panther with such savagery that Bagheera was certain he would have been torn to pieces within a heart's beat had he not leapt back from the flaying claws.

Hissing out his own fury, the black cat swiped back at the larger, rearing onto his back legs to whack Khan's head and tear his claws through the tiger's face. But he knew that he was only stalling- defeat was inevitable.

His brutal roar echoing, Shere Khan landed a heavy blow to the panther's jaw that sent him sprawling onto the grass.

Panting heavily and doing all he could to block out the pain, Bagheera snarled and hauled himself to his paws, once again hurling himself at Khan as the tiger turned to head back after Mowgli, tearing his claws down the larger cat's flank and shoulder.

Fuelled by shere pain and frustration, Khan whirled around and threw himself at the panther, flaying his claws and striking out with his large and powerful paws, jaws slamming shut a mere grass blade's distance from the smaller cat's eye.

The sudden, brute force of Khan's blow to his chest saw Bagheera skid to the ground limply. Breath shaking, he pressed his weight onto one painful foot to stand, only to be shoved back to the ground by the heavy paw of Shere Khan pressed to his neck.  
"This ends now." the tiger's deep, rasping voice growled in his ear, and he felt the pressure increase and claws dig into his throat. Struggling for breath, Bagheera found that while he did not feel ready to die, maybe, just maybe, he had bought Mowgli enough time to escape.

 _'Then_ ' he thought, _'It will all have been worth it.'_

"No!"

Raksha's howl echoed in his already ringing ears, and Bagheera scarcely felt the weight lift from his body as the pack slammed against Shere Khan, throwing themselves at him together.

* * *

The times following Shere Khan's defeat were full of only peace and prosper. Though the jungle had not yet recovered from the wild flower, life returned to how it had once been. Mowgli had adamantly decided to remain with the pack as opposed to travelling to the man-village, and Bagheera held his tongue, for the panther found himself selfishly relieved.

Raksha immediately proved herself to be a worthy alpha, though her divided duties between the pack and her own cubs meant that Bagheera found himself as watchful over Mowgli as he had been when Shere Khan prowled the jungle. Whether Baloo's added 'guidance' was a benefit or a burden he had yet to decide, though the panther found himself becoming regretfully fond of the lazy bear.

However, it did not take long for him to realise that his rest would be short-lived. After a few days, he found that every one of the young wolves could outrun him no matter how far they strayed from the designated path. His lungs burned to even climb to a low branch; in fact when he considered it, his lungs burnt all the time.

It was six days after Khan's death that the panther admitted to himself that something was very wrong. Baloo must have noticed the coughing fits and wheezing breaths as well, for the bear grasped him gently by his black scruff and dragged him just beyond the trees, away from the pack.

"Baloo! I am more than capable of walking!" Bagheera snapped, disguising the pained wince as a glare as he shook out his coat.

Baloo merely tilted his head; small dark eyes staring down at the cat, "Are you so sure about that, Baggy?"  
Grumbling slightly at the childish nickname, Bagheera sat down on his haunches and twitched his tail impatiently, "What are you talking about?"  
The bear puffed out a loud breath through his nose, "Come on, Bagheera, something's up! You don't run with the young wolves any more, you don't catch anything when you hunt- _I_ climb more than you do right now!"  
Bagheera huffed, averting his pale green eyes to watch Mowgli playing with Raksha's littlest pup, Grey, away from the rest of the pack, "I have other priorities."  
Baloo sat back on his hind legs, back propped against a tree as he looked at the panther incredulously, "Sure." there was a brief pause. Bagheera flattened his ears uncomfortably as another fit of coughs threatened to fight their way up from his seemingly crushed lungs, but the effort to force it back down only caused his breaths to quiver loudly and his shoulders to jolt a little.

Baloo remained quiet for a heartbeat, then sighed, "Look, Bagheera, you're in pain. Why don't you just tell somebody?"  
The cat closed his eyes briefly, then swallowed hard and feeling a small sense of relief as a bit of the pressure lifted, "What could anybody do? What will be, will be."  
"Yeah well if what will be is you dying then I don't think anybody's gonna take that too well." Baloo muttered.

"Nobody is dying, Baloo." Bagheera sighed in exasperation, though inwardly a stab of uncertainty pricked his gut, "I'm just...tired. Very tired."  
He glanced at the man-cub again, eyes softening and ears perking forwards.

"You're sure about that?"

"...No." the panther heaved a long breath, "But I must be. I saw how losing Akela affected Mowgli, and he wasn't even present to witness it."

Baloo twitched his large nose sympathetically, "Well, _if_ you were to be dying, the kid couldn't blame himself- Akela was murdered to get to him."  
Bagheera hummed softly to himself, smiling slightly as the rest of Raksha's litter bounced over to Mowgli and Grey, their excited little giggles and yaps rising into the evening as the man-cub lifted them one by one up into the air, "Forgive me Baloo, but you don't know that boy as well as I do. His heart is too big for his little body."  
Baloo chuckled with a nod, "He's something special, for sure."  
"Indeed." the panther mused, only to be cut off by a sharp pain in his chest as he coughed painfully.

It took some time for this bout to die down, but when it did the cat shook his head slightly to clear it, looking up to see Mowgli's large, concerned brown eyes looking back at him. The other cubs had remained on the rocks, tumbling on the stones.

"Are you okay, Bagheera?" the man-cub asked, his young voice laced with fear as he glanced between the panther and Baloo, who looked equally worried.

Swallowing the stinging sensation in his throat, Bagheera nodded, "I'm fine, just-"  
"Tired." Baloo interrupted, "Very tired."  
Something in Mowgli's dark eyes told Bagheera that the boy didn't entirely believe them, but he simply flicked his ear in confirmation to Baloo's statement, and the man-cub nodded slowly and wrapped his arms around the panther's neck gently. Warily almost, as though he thought he might break the jungle cat.

Bagheera locked eyes with Baloo from over the child's shoulder, and saw his own guilt reflected.  
However, the panther inwardly shook it off, simply resting his chin on Mowgli's shoulder contently.

' _Whatever will be, will be'._

 **A/N: This is based on the events of the 2016 live-action movie. Could be considered a sequel to my other fic 'Promise' but works as an independent as well.**

 **I'm not hugely pleased with this one; it dragged on longer than I would have liked it to, and it didn't feel as emotional as 'Promise' did, I just felt like I didn't know what I was really doing for a lot of it, and I am so bad at getting Baloo's character right!**

 **Not to mention I had no idea how to end it. But hopefully you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Bagheera lay with his head on his foreleg and his pale green eyes half-closed beneath a tree. His sides heaved with the effort of each breath, and a faint, shuddering wheeze passed from his nose to accompany it.

Beside him, Baloo shifted so that he was lying against the sturdy trunk of the tree. He had scarcely left Bagheera's side since they had first discussed the condition, and showed no intention of his devotion dying down any time soon. Bagheera would never admit it, but it was a comfort to have the chatty, bumbling bear for company.

Occasionally Baloo would glance at the ever weakening panther with a look of unhappy hopelessness, but he never spoke. For as much as Bagheera was wise, he was perhaps the most stubborn cat in the entire jungle, and nobody could tell him what he had not already accepted himself. What the bear did not know however, was that Bagheera had in fact accepted what was true.

He was ill. The panther could not pinpoint what exactly had destroyed the capability of his lungs- the smoke of the red flower, Shere Khan's hefty blows, or even just his age finally catching up to him. Not that he was an old cat, but he would be the first- though not the last- to admit that he had passed his prime.

It was frustrating more than anything. To be permanently exhausted, so helpless. He felt vulnerable when trapped on the ground, and longed to be able to leap up and laze on the low branches, or spring from tree to tree. Up there, he was the unquestionable authority. Down here, he was nothing.

His thoughts were interrupted by the yaps and playful growls of the young wolves, and the cat raised his head slowly as they came stampeding towards the tree, bashing into each other and snapping teasingly at one another's ears. Mowgli was with them, laughing as one of the wolves swerved around his legs before barrelling into another, causing it to let out a sharp yelp of surprise.

Bagheera's ear twitched slightly as Baloo sat up further against the tree, smiling fondly at the younger animals.

"Bagheera! Baloo! Can we go running today?" a long-legged russet she-wolf yapped, wagging her tail in excitement only to yank it away with a whine as one of her sisters gently nipped it.

Bagheera held back a chuckle of amusement, blinking slowly at them, "The adults used to have to drag you out of the dens to get you to go on those runs- why are you suddenly all so eager?"  
"Yeah, it's almost like you guys _want_ to exercise." Baloo scoffed, his small ears flopping as he shook dust from his long fur.

A sturdy grey wolf twitched his ears impatiently, "Mowgli taught us some of his tactics! We want to try them out!"

"Raksha would be so impressed!" a skinny dusty coated she-wolf added, tongue lolling out of her mouth.  
The man-cub grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand as Bagheera shot him an unimpressed glance, "I told them it wouldn't work the same with four paws." he shrugged.

"Can we go? Please?" the russet she-wolf cried, glancing between the bear and the panther with bright eyes. The rest of the young wolves went silent for once, ears pricked forwards.

Bagheera felt a stab of guilt upon seeing their eagerness, but the thought of standing sent a prickle of anxiety through his body, yet alone forcing himself to even lift his forelegs up to grip a tree's bark. The black cat glanced down at his paws, flattening his ears as he heard faint whines and whimpers from the young wolves as they began to grow fidgety again.

There was a pause, then Baloo spoke loudly and cheerfully, "Tell you what kiddos- I'll come but Baggy over here gets a free-pass. He's getting old you know."

Bagheera glanced back to issue a sharp retort, but Baloo's small, dark eyes were compassionate despite his teasing tone, and after a heart beat's hesitation, the panther nodded his consent.

The young wolves burst into excited fits of barking and howling, crowding around the bear as he hauled himself to his feet and lumbered off towards the trees, commenting loudly that if they made him go up a tree, he would personally ensure that he would use _them_ to soften his landing should he fall.

Bagheera chuckled fondly, only to narrow his eyes as his throat went dry and his lungs clenched painfully, emitting a harsh cough. When he'd recovered enough to look up again, Bagheera saw Mowgli stood watching him. The boy had turned to follow the others, but glanced back when he heard the panther's hacking, and now his large eyes were full of concern.

"You okay, Bagheera?" he asked, voice small.

Clearing his throat, and gritting his teeth as he did so, the cat nodded, "I'm fine, Mowgli. Go and run with the others."

The man-cub hesitated, lifting one foot to go after the others; then he stopped with that stubborn pout on his face and walked over to the panther, dropping to the floor beside him and sitting with his elbows on his knees.

"You know, how am I supposed to learn that lying is bad when you keep doing it?" Mowgli mused, his dark hair falling a little over his face as he tilted his head to look at Bagheera with a raised eyebrow.

The cat stared at him for a moment, then twitched his ears, "Do as I say, not as I do." he answered simply, before dropping his head on his paw again- he didn't have the effort to argue.

The man-cub remained silent for a second, and Bagheera closed his eyes, but then he felt a small hand press against his flank gently.

"Bagheera, you're shaking." Mowgli told him, and the panther hated nothing more than to hear the fear that laced the boy's voice. It was so easy, hearing that voice, to forget that this was the child that had killed Shere Khan and brought peace to the jungle.

He opened his eyes and decided it was time, "I know."

"Why?"

Breathing out a sigh that was cut off by a small cough, the panther raised his head slowly to look the boy in the eye, "I'm sick, Mowgli. That is why." he said quietly.

Mowgli pressed his lips in a thin line, brows knitted together as he tried to process this new information, "But, you're getting better right? Like when that baby rhino was sick- she couldn't walk for a week but now she's fine."  
"I remember." Bagheera murmured, flicking his tail as another wave of guilt washed over him.

"So you're getting better?"

"...No."

Mowgli's eyes widened, and panic shone through them, "But-"  
"Not everybody gets better, Mowgli. Sometimes the damage is too much to be repaired." Bagheera told him gently.  
The boy's mouth opened and closed in confusion and distress. When he did speak, his voice quivered, "But, you're still gonna be here right? You're not..."  
Bagheera hesitated, then answered honestly, "I don't know."

Mowgli clearly didn't take this as a good sign, "But I need you! We all need you here!" he cried out, wrapping his slender arms around the panther's neck.

Bagheera breathed out softly, closing his eyes against the man-cub, "Wherever I am, I'll always be here."  
"That doesn't make any sense." Mowgli sniffed, clutching tighter against Bagheera, who smiled slightly at his childish tone.

"Mowgli," he began, though his breath felt short, "When the stars leave the sky, do they no longer exist?"  
Mowgli hesitated, "I guess not. They come back the next night, so they must still be there, but Bagheera what does-"  
The boy cut himself off as it dawned upon him. Silence fell and the panther nudged the man-cub softly before resting his head on his foreleg once more, breath rattling quietly. Mowgli began to gently run his hand along the dark fur of Bagheera's neck soothingly, and the cat closed his eyes.

"I'll be with you. Even if you can't see me."

 **A/N: somebody requested a sequel to the first chapter and looking back at it, I was like "huh, there is a bit of potential there", so I just went for it.**

 **I wasn't really sure what to do with this chapter, I just knew there was going to be some cute Mowgli and Bagheera moment because for God's sake there are not enough of those in Jungle Book fics!**

 **Whether Bagheera is actually dying or just permanently 'scarred' is kind of up to interpretation, I couldn't really decide if I had the heart to kill him off so if I get another request for a continuation maybe I'd consider that (hopefully without wrecking it!).**

 **Thanks for reading x**


	3. Chapter 3

The panther flattened his ears against the howling and yaps of the young wolves below the low branch he lay upon. Too low. But he found that he couldn't summon the energy to reach his usual high perch any more. The flurry of grey and brown pups were a mass of excitement as they readied for their first real hunt with the pack that night, yet though their legs were now strengthened and their jaws sharp from training, their eyes still glowed with the excitement of a new adventure, and their tongues lolled out of their jaws cheerfully.

"I think I preferred them when they were small and quiet." Bagheera muttered to himself, wincing as one young wolf let out a particularly grating howl that the others decided needed to be followed up. Before long it became a competition, as it always did, and the black cat groaned as he closed his eyes tightly against the jarring noise.

Before the incident with Shere Khan, it wouldn't have bothered him. Well, it would have, but less so than it was currently. Now, every bark rattled and bounced between his ears, sending an uncomfortable ache through his head.

"Alright young ones, that's quite enough of that behaviour!"

Bagheera breathed a sigh of relief at Raksha's warning call, opening his pale green eyes to see the white she-wolf padding gracefully towards the young wolves below.

The alpha held her head and tail high while her icy blue gaze locked with each and every pup, who all quietened immediately, their excitement reduced to wagging tails and twitching ears and paws.

Raksha nodded her broad head in satisfaction, "Tonight, you will experience your first taste of life as a grown wolf of the pack. The hunt is an exhilarating run, but to be a wolf is about more than how quickly you can spot and kill prey." her gaze shone pridefully, "It is about knowing the ways of the jungle, outside and within the pack."  
The young wolves nodded their heads solemnly, and the great white wolf flicked her tail, "Now, go and join your elders, I want you all to be reciting the Law of the Jungle with the utmost confidence when I join you later. Remember, the little cubs will be looking up to you."  
Bagheera jumped as the young wolves erupted into cheerful yips and cries as they darted away, and the panther let out a groan at the dull thumping it left in his head. Unfortunately, that groan quickly gave way to a violent fit of coughs, and he had to fight to sit up and relieve some pressure from his lungs.

Once it had died down, he looked to see Raksha looking up at him with concerned blue eyes. She was silent for a heartbeat, before she sat back on her haunches, "Bagheera, come down here please. You know how I prefer to have a conversation eye-to-eye."  
 _'So it's my turn to be lectured then.'_ the panther thought with a small growl of exasperation, but nethertheless he hauled himself to his paws and slipped back towards the trunk of the tree, edging down and settling at the bottom, "What is it, Raksha?"  
The white wolf narrowed her eyes, looking up towards the top of the tree, "You used to jump from the very highest branch with not even a shred of concern. Now, you seem to-"  
"Struggle?" Bagheera grumbled.

"...Take more precaution." Raksha said carefully, flicking one ear as concern slipped into her gentle voice, "Bagheera, I understand that this cannot be easy for you, especially after the ordeal we all suffered-"  
"I prefer not to dwell on the past, Raksha." Bagheera grunted, a hint of warning in his tone.

The wolf was quiet for a heartbeat, before she nodded and continued, "I just want to tell you that, the pack will support you in any way that it can."  
Bagheera growled slightly, lashing his long tail and flattening his ears, "I'm not an orphaned cub, Raksha, I can take care of myself."  
"Just because you can, doesn't mean that you must." the white wolf insisted, her blue eyes sharp, "We are a pack here, and whether you see it or not, that included you. And a pack takes care of each other, no matter what. Things have changed for you, what with these new...limitations, and I worry that you are struggling to cope under the change."

The black cat scoffed, but he knew that she was right. He had grown to accept that his life would not be the same as it once was. Not now that he was sick.

"Do you believe that you shall die?"  
Raksha's bluntness caught him off guard, but he thought about it mutely. The two remained there for several heartbeats before the panther shook his broad head, "No."  
He had considered the likelihood of the sickness taking his life for some time yet it had seemed less and less. And now, as he finally spoke the word, he felt a weight release off of his shoulders, and a security wrapped around him with a new certainty.

Raksha breathed a deep sigh of relief, "Good. That is good." she murmured, her voice becoming thick with sorrow, "There have been so many losses already in such short time..."

Fondness overcoming him, Bagheera stroked his tail over her shoulder soothingly, "You are a good and just alpha. The pack has recovered well under your leadership."  
The wolf shrugged, ears drooping a little in exhaustion, "I fear that I rely too much on my fellows. The council, you. Akela seemed to come up with every solution with his own head and nothing more..." she locked her gaze with him, and Bagheera was surprised to see a new vulnerability in the large blue eyes of the graceful alpha, "That is why _I_ need you here. I do not know what I should do without you to turn to."

Smiling softly, the panther found himself chuckling.

Raksha tilted her head, "What is so amusing?" she pressed, narrowing her eyes a little in suspicion.

Bagheera flicked his ears, purring slightly, "It seems we have both found ourselves rather out of our usual depths this time, my friend."

Raksha was silent for a heartbeat, then she too chuckled, butting her head against his shoulder affectionately, "It would seem so. But we will overcome them; we have a talent for that, you and I."

"You mean that we're too stubborn to die."

The alpha wolf grinned in amusement, twitching her tail as she looked up to the sky, "Something like that, old friend. Something like that."

 _ **A/N:**_

 **I'M BACK! Jesus christ this update is terrible!**

 **It's like 00:20am here, and I was going through the reviews for this fic and saw a LOT of requests for it to be continued and I felt really bad for ditching it so long!**

**Yeah, I had to pretty much improvise this update with no clue where I was really going with it, hence why it is so short (even by my standards), but I think it gets better towards the end.**

**Someone requested a little moment between Bagheera and Raksha and I realised- these two raised Mowgli between them, and considering in the 2016 movie that I'm working off it Mowgli is like 9/10, that's approximately 10 years at LEAST that Raksha and Bagheera will have known eachover (realistic animal life-spans not withstanding), so I wanted to explore that relationship with I view would be a very close friendship/partnership- NOTE, I do NOT view them as romantic at all though xD**

 **So I hope you enjoyed the update! Keep leaving ideas for further chapters, I do actually like this fic quite a lot, it's just keeping it up with new ideas! Thankyou! x**


End file.
